The EOL soldiers stationed in the small town were very much on edge as the morning sun rose on the horizon, they had received intelligence that there was going to be an attack from the east, an attack that would involve tanks. Many of the soldiers, fifty in total, were on rooftops while others took cover in the numerous small buildings that at one point in the past had been stores. They were mainly single story structures with large glass front windows, in the street the EOL troopers had had their small group of ten thralls push old vehicles to slow the advance of the tanks. Parked in the main intersection of the town was their lone tank, a bulldozer covered in trench plate and scrap metal, and armed with a crude front facing cannon, as well as a fifty caliber machine gun on the top.

As the sun continued to rise in the sky the soldiers remained quiet, nervously watching the tree line for what was to come. In the distance they could hear the sound of groaning metal and rumbling engines. It seemed to echo from all around them as their radios buzzed with static and silence. Over the noise came a rather interesting sound, it sounded like music, oddly calming music. It grew louder and louder, until to their surprise the trees on the other side of the town began to shake.

“They’re coming from the other side!” Shouted one of the soldiers into his radio, that was until the trees in front of them and to the side began to tremble as well.

“We’re surrounded!? How!?” Asked a more nervous soldier, he didn’t get a response from anyone as he was drowned out by orders to scramble to other defensive positions. The fifty soldiers rushed through out the town, spreading themselves thinner than before as they prepared for the coming onslaught. As the music hit its climax the trees to the west fell, revealing five tanks, the east came next, revealing five more, and then the others fell. Twenty tanks in total, all of them coming straight towards the town.

“Fall back to the Sheriff’s Office!” Shouted one of the officers, but over the noise their order went unheard. Unsurprisingly the tanks opened fire, shells rained down and began exploding throughout the streets. One shell fell into a cluster of running EOL troops, it exploded in a massive ball of fire and shrapnel. Those closest to the blast absorbed most of the shock wave, but were blown to pieces. Shards of fractured bone joined the metal shrapnel that shredded through the other troopers nearby.

The tanks continued rolling onward, a single man visible in one of the turrets with a sword lowered menacingly at those that stood in his way. The EOL’s tank shuddered and shook as it started turning towards that tank, as they assumed it was the tank of whomever was leading the attack. The crude cannon slowly came to bare, the crew of the poorly built vehicle were forced to use the barrel as their only aiming guide. Since the EOL lacked munitions factories they were forced to improvise. In this case they opted to use a bowling ball as a projectile after loading the muzzle loading cannon with a black powder charge.

The machine gunner on the fifty cal began peppering the lead tank, forcing the man with the sword to duck for cover in his turret. It was a light show unlike any the EOL tankers had ever seen, bullets and tracers pinged off the armor in brilliant sparks but it just kept coming. The crew on the cannon lit the fuse, seconds later their bulldozer tank shuddered as the cannon boomed. The bowling ball soared through the air slowly, then hit the lead tank with a resounding thud before it fractured into tiny pieces, not even leaving a scratch in the grey paint. The crew was somewhat trained and began preparing to reload, but it was time for the enemy tank to fired back.

The machine gunner barely had time to leap off the top of the bulldozer when he saw the puff of smoke and fire appear from the cannon. The shell hit the bulldozer and exploded before he even heard the bang of the cannon, hot shrapnel and burning fuel quickly ended his life. Meanwhile the tanks continued their onslaught into the weakly defended town, the calming music still playing eerily over the carnage. Plumes of smoke began to rise into the air as the American infantry began entering the town, many of them rushing to clear the storefronts.

Dominic sheathed his sword as he smirked and looked through the slits in the turret, he couldn’t be happier that Discord had come through with the portal, even if he had taken his time in telling Dominic that he’d solved the problem. In a relatively short time they had managed to move twenty light tanks through the portal, as well as supplies and troops. It had also been a boon in the way of offloading POWs and liberated slaves alike, opening up more space for soldiers and machines. The attack of Objective Echo wasn’t really necessary for supply as it was for moral and to give his newly arrived tank crews some experience in combat. His gamble with Melissa had paid off perfectly, the enemy was completely disorganized.

”Got some guys giving us trouble in a building on the main drag.” An infantry commander called over the radio. Dominic looked towards the building in question, it had at one point been a consignment store. It most likely still had a lot of clothes and other knick knacks inside.

“Avos! Put some Willy Pete in that window!” Dominic ordered, Sergeant Avos nodded and cranked the turret around. The gun lowered on one of the large panes of glass before the griffon slipped a shell into the cannon and pulled the trigger, the gun boomed and seconds later the storefront was flooded with white smoke, while burning chunks of phosphorus skittered out onto the street. EOL troopers emerged from within, many running and flailing as they tried to put out burning clothes while a few simply shambled out. Dominic winced as he saw just how much damage the phosphorus had done, the looked more like charred kebabs than human beings. “Keep us moving, Gear.”

”They’re pulling back to the Sheriff’s office at the center of town, we’ve got reports that they’ve got slaves in there with them.” Jen’s voice echoed over the radio as Gear Grinder began driving the tank through the streets towards the Sheriff’s office in question. Outside Dominic could see more than a few regular looking people poking their heads out of doorways or hanging white sheets out of their windows.

“All units, hold outside the building.” Dominic ordered as a couple tanks set up a perimeter around the Sheriff’s office, meanwhile the remaining force began to encircle the town in a ring of defensive steel. Dominic’s tank rolled past the blockade of armor towards the front door of the Sheriff’s office, it stopped just a few feet from a row of parked police vehicles that had been defaced with the EOL’s symbol. Minutes passed, Dominic and his crew waiting tensely while they watched the door. Infantry began closing as well, some even hitching rides from Thestrals up onto the roof, all of them waiting for the go to breach and clear. “Hold.”

From inside Dominic could see a man approaching the door with a white pillowcase over his head, the Commander opened the hatch to his tank and stood up just as the man exited the building. Dominic eyed him carefully as he cautiously approached Dominic’s tank, every fiber told Dominic to shoot him, but he was bound by honor to heed the white flag.

“I come on behalf of my commanding officer!” The soldier said loudly as he continued to hold the fabric over his head. “H-He wants to speak with the-” The man was cut off as gunshots and screaming echoed from inside the Sheriff’s office, Dominic went for his revolver but the man dropped to the ground and covered his head in an attempt to hide under the white fabric.

“All units move in!” Dominic ordered, the infantry wasted no time in kicking in the doors, the soldiers on the roof pulled open the roof access and began filtering down the top steps.

“Flashbang!” Someone shouted inside before there was a loud bang, followed by assault rifle fire. “Main office clear!” Dominic climbed out of his turret and made his way down onto the ground beside the hiding EOL trooper, there was more gunfire from inside, followed by eerie silence. Dominic drew his revolver from his holster and looked down at the man on the ground.

“Don’t move, by now there’s a sniper with a shot on you.” He said simply before he started approaching the front door, he took cover on the edge and cleared his throat. “What’s going on in there!? Report!”

“All clear!” Shouted a voice from inside as a couple soldiers walked out. “Need medics… It’s a mess in there.” One of them said, a couple seconds later a pair if soldiers passed with one of their comrades using them to support his walking. Dominic looked at the other tanks and waved the signal for medics before turning to enter the building. He slipped his revolver into the holster as he entered the dark building, he passed a few more wounded being helped out before finally stopping in a large room that had been at one point the main office. It had been converted into a dormitory for the EOL troops with cots and sleeping bags spread about. To the side was the jail cells, that’s where more than a few soldiers seemed to be standing.

Dominic approached them, stepping over numerous dead EOL soldiers. He didn’t really notice at first, but it looked like they had been shooting at each other. Once he arrived at the jail cell he realized what had drawn so much attention, inside were at least ten corpses. They were thin and poorly dressed, their hands had been tied behind their back and they’d been blindfolded. The EOL’s slaves had been executed, that had been the initial screaming, and the rest had been the EOL forces turning on one another.

The man shook his head quietly before clearing his throat, the soldiers looked at him with a bit of surprise.

“Get them out of there… No, on second thought, have whatever civilians we’ve captured get them out of there, and dig their graves.” Dominic ordered sternly as he continued looking at the dead bodies. “Let them see what their Empire has built itself on.” One of the soldiers saluted before Dominic left the building, outside he found at least two platoon leaders waiting for him. “Report.”

“We’ve secured Objective Echo, sir. Minimal casualties were sustained, two dead, one wounded.” The first said after snapping to attention. “The building’s stock of liquors is surprisingly intact, we’re having them placed under guard for now.”

“Good.” Dominic said quietly as he looked platoon leader up and down, a stocky young man with glasses and freckles. “I want eyes on the civilians at all times, you never know what kind of plans they have for us.” The platoon leader nodded and saluted before rushing off, Dominic looked to the second one. “Report.”

“We’ve picked up fifteen prisoners of war, sir. They’re demanding to speak with you.” The platoon leader reported, Dominic rolled his eyes and shook his head.

“Process them and evacuate them through the portal as usual.” He commanded, the platoon leader nodded and rushed off to carry out the orders as well. Dominic somewhat envied the POWs, they were going to get to see the world that he had come to call home while he was stuck in the wasteland that was the place of his birth. The next couple meetings went similarly, reports continued flooding in even after he had gotten into his tank and was on his way back to the new base. A group of four tanks and fifty soldiers had been left to guard the town, considering they had a force multiplier of better tanks Dominic figured they would fare far better than the EOL had.

Dominic reclined against the back of the turret, switching channels on the radio to the now familiar ‘Ghost Peak Radio’. To his surprise it seemed that news of the sudden arrival of tanks had already made its way to the anchor, as well as the fact that most of the crews and New American forces were ponies, diamond dogs, changelings, or griffons.

”-continue our coverage of the latest faction to make itself known in the wasteland. Known now as the New American Expeditionary Force, we’ve learned that this strange well equipped military group is from an entirely different dimension! Furthermore it seems that this dimension contains some of the things the EOL claims are real, however, it’s believed they aren’t happy how they’ve been portrayed here.” The familiar polish accent of the woman on the radio announced, Dominic sighed faintly as he enjoyed the broadcast, her voice was somewhat soothing considering how bloody the battle had been.

”Hold on one second… I’ve just been informed the New American’s have just retaken a town in their area of control, it’s speculated that this attack was a practice assault for what could possibly be an invasion of Denver or Golden!” Dominic sighed again, this time in annoyance, it seemed everyone and their brother were able to relay his every move to that radio station, and then it was practically gift wrapped and delivered to the enemy. ”I hope that whoever is command is listening to this. A lot of people are counting on you, whoever you are. My friends here in the NC have selected a little song, this one’s dedicated to all the EOL bullies about to learn just how much power they really have.” The song came on a few seconds later, Dominic found himself oddly smiling at it.

“You humans have weird music.” Scribs commented from the front of the tank, the reporter had been very quiet for the most part ever since they had come through the portal, constantly writing away in his numerous notebooks. Dominic had forgotten he was there half the time with how quiet he was.

“We’ve been around a long time, we’d have to stray into weird territory eventually.” Dominic said with a shrug as he continued listening to the song. “Besides, this isn’t even close to weird. You want weird you should listen to that ‘Avant garde’ shit, it’s fucking stupid.”

“We have avant garde stuff in Equestria.” Scribs replied without looking up from his notebook. “I wouldn’t call it stupid, just… Different.” Dominic scowled and rolled his eyes. “You care to offer a rebuttal?”

“I do.” Dominic said as he continued listening to the radio, then after a while turned it down so he could better speak with Scribs. “I personally think the word avant garde was made up by the people producing that talentless dreck so that they could be viewed as unique and different.” Dominic turned the radio off completely as he continued his mini rant, Gear Grinder and Avos did their best to stifle their giggles at how intense the man seemed to get. “It drew attention away from traditional forms of art and music such as paintings, line art, and don’t even get me started on the masterpieces of music that have been forgotten in favor of things that are ‘hip’ and ‘with it’.”

“You never had a lot of friends when you were a child, did you?” Avos asked, Dominic looked at her with a raised eyebrow. “You sound like my grandfather.” Gear Grinder began laughing again, until Dominic cleared his throat and looked over at Scribs again.

“It’s not that I hate art, far from it. I love it. That’s why I hate seeing some asshole vomit paint onto a canvas and call it art.” Dominic crossed his arms and leaned against the back of the turret again, all the while Scribs kept writing his notes and papers. “Equestria has some nice art. I mean, I don’t like Celestia, but whoever did the paintings in her office was a talented motherfucker.”

“Sir, hate to break up your critique, but there’s more reports for you on the radio.” Gear Grinder cut in, Dominic sighed and reached up to change frequencies once again. It was the same sort of reporting and information giving as before, vital to the war effort but boring nonetheless. There was one thing he looked forwards to, and that was getting home to see Maria. He was going to take her on the most romantic date he could in the wastes, as going to New Liberty through the portal would be a misuse of military equipment. There wasn’t going to be a damn thing anyone could do to stop him.

“Hit the gas, Gear. I want to get home sometime this month.” Dominic said quietly as he looked out one of the view slits.

[♠]

Luna had been busy once again, and for once it had nothing to do with the border tension. The portal had been opened two days ago and through it had come a litany of refugees and POWs, Luna was swamped with a sea of paperwork. Sonar, oddly enough, was having more and more trouble performing her duties as Acting President. She’d been home more and more often, and Luna suspected it had something to do with the wounds inflicted by Starlight Glimmer. Whatever the reason, it left Luna a very busy mare. She’d dealt with large amounts of paperwork before, she had centuries of practice, but these documents all required her to read them carefully which began eating up her time.

When she had started that morning the sun had barely risen into the sky, now it was hanging midway in the air. The first wave of paperwork was simple enough, they were all refugee documents for the large amount of liberated former slaves. Reading through what they had endured on those pages had made Luna’s skin crawl, and it was the second wave of paperwork that introduced her to those responsible. The POWs needed to be put somewhere, that meant a quick construction of a POW camp. They needed to be guarded, that had forced Luna to cut a deal with the local Mafioso-turned-Pinkerton, Johnny Gambino.

The third wave of paperwork was everything that had been set aside to deal with the first to, normal housekeeping paperwork. Luna didn’t know how many times she’d read the line in front of her, but for the life of her she couldn’t get it to stick in her brain. Considering how much she was juggling she figured that perhaps it was time to take a break, the mare pushed her chair back and stood up. Her joints popped, they felt tight from the extended period of sitting. She stretched and walked to the door and started down the steps, she passed by the desk that had been set up on the bottom floor where a diamond dog had taken the position of secretary.

The dog gave her a slight wave that she returned with a smile before stepping outside the capitol building, the bright sun caused her to flinch and raise a wing over her eyes. After a couple seconds of adjusting to the light she started walking towards the refugee center, she’d found herself drawn in by a couple of odd people there, one of whom was involved in the new fighter plane program. As she walked past a couple storefronts she could hear the whistle on the train echoing in the distance, meanwhile there were more than a few Equestrian tour groups. Even with all the tension ponies still came, Luna didn’t mind as long as they contributed to the economy. Lately there had been an increase of teenagers and high schools coming to New Liberty for class trips.

As she got closer to the edge of town she could hear yelling from one of the stores ahead of her, a door suddenly burst open and two teenaged unicorns ran out with numerous items in their magic and an absolutely furious human male chasing them with a machete in hand.

“Thieves!” He shouted menacingly, Luna’s horn glowed and plucked the items out of the two teen’s magic. They paused only for a moment to see what had happened, and upon seeing the princess, ran off without a fight. Luna briefly looked over the stolen items, they were records by the look of it, and well cared for too. She couldn’t really read some of the faded names, but it was clear that the store owner had been hoarding them for a very long time. The man approached her, panting and with his machete lax in his grip. “Thank you, Miss Luna… I normally have better security, but they’re kinda busy with the POW camp.”

“Think nothing of it, I’m sorry that you had to endure that.” Luna replied as she neatly organized the records and set them down in the man’s hands. “Say, how much are you charging for these records?” The man smiled at her faintly.

“Considering you just saved me a ton of money, have one on the house.” He said, Luna returned the smile and quietly hummed.

“I shall have to return later then, I’m a bit preoccupied at the moment.” Luna said, the man shrugged and started walking back towards his shop. Luna sighed as her thoughts turned to the two young stallions that had been involved, she couldn’t help but wonder what Equestria’s youth were becoming. With that sad thought she started walking towards the refugee center once again, everything seemed to be business as usual with regard to the other tourist groups. Luna found herself smirking as she saw the familiar tank guarding the gate to the large center, more than a few tourists were gathered around it as well.

Luna could see the guards were rather tense, as well as the armed humans that acted as a supplementary force inside the compound. Luna hoped to get past the gate without much incident, she was practically family on the other side of that gate, she’d never felt more welcome than she had when the people of Earth invited her into their homes to share a meal or to look at something they had created.

“Come on! Let us through!” Whined one of the tourists as Luna discreetly snuck around behind the group, the thestral guard on duty shook his head firmly.

“No.” He said sternly, the tourist didn’t seem to like that answer though. Luna sighed just as she was about to pass through the gate, the people on the other side already making ready to cover her entrance if the crowd spotted her. Once she was past the gate she turned and looked back at the scene, a couple of the human guards moving to stand next to her.

“They’ve been at it all day.” One of them said with a scowl as a tourist picked up a camera and snapped a couple shots of them. “I’m surprised that guy hasn’t decked any of ‘em yet. I know I would’ve.”

“It would be an international incident if he did it, and if you did it the newspapers in Equestria would love to use it as a way to portray you as savages.” Luna said with an equally annoyed tone, it thinly hid her utter contempt for how sensationalist Equestria’s news had gotten. “Is Jack here? I was hoping to talk with him.”

“Ghoul’s where he always is when he isn’t next to Sarah.” Another one of the human guards said before jerking a thumb over at the common area of the compound. Luna nodded and started walking in that direction, she could hear more yelling from the tourist but it rapidly faded into the background noise. She passed by more than a few humans doing various tasks, one had set up a makeshift blacksmith forge while another was knitting a rifle cozy. Luna didn’t question that last one. She spotted the man she was seeking, he sat at a table by himself with a chessboard in front of him, from the look of it he was losing.

“Hello, Jack.” Luna said faintly, the man briefly looked over at her for a moment and smiled faintly before going back to his chess game. “Practicing?” The man quietly nodded again as he stared closely at the board, with a sudden bit of speed the man had made numerous moves, all culminating into a victory for himself. Luna was impressed, she hadn’t seen such a skilled chess player in a century. “Mind if I play?”

“Go ahead…” Jack said quietly as he began setting up the board again, briefly looking over his shoulder for someone but sighing when he failed to see them. Luna knew just who he was looking for, the woman that had basically kept him from losing his mind, Sarah. The few words that Jack ever shared with Luna were about her, she had taken him in and cared for him at great cost to herself, even when he made mistakes. That was about all she got out of him normally, and as Luna watched him finish setting up the board, she briefly caught a glimpse of what could’ve been in his eyes. He was intelligent, he could’ve been a composer or a professor, but he’d chosen a radical life of stunts and death defying.

The man slowly rotated the board so that the white pieces were on Luna’s side, she smiled faintly and attempted to lift one with her magic. It didn’t work, it was a human chess board. Luna carefully brought her hoof up and moved one of her pawns forwards, in the distance there was the faint sound of the city but it was barely audible. Jack moved his own piece, a knight, onto the board.

“Did you know there are four hundred and eighty eight billion moves possible on a chess board after each of us has moved four times?” Jack suddenly asked, Luna shook her head with a bit of surprise before she moved another pawn. “It’s insane, isn’t it? I couldn’t believe it when I first learned.” The man moved his knight once again, placing it in position to capture one of the pawns Luna had moved. “Why did you come here?”

“I like talking with you.” Luna replied, Jack shook his head as he continued watching the board. Luna moved her bishop out onto the board, poising it to capture Jack’s knight.

“I mean what has you so fascinated by me specifically.” The man asked as he surveyed the board once again. “You talk to me most often out of all the others that I see you talk about.” Luna began to contest him. “I’ve counted, you’ve come to speak with me nine times, as opposed to the others, which is more of an average between four and four and a half.” Luna blinked a couple times as she tried to think of an answer, eventually she found it in the form of her work in the dream realm.

“I suppose you remind me of myself.” Luna replied finally, Jack was reaching to make a move, but stopped and looked at her curiously. “I used to do crazy things all the time, and it got me in a lot of trouble. I didn’t have a woman like Sarah to guide me though… I suppose I’m just curious about what could’ve been if I had.”

“Interesting…” Jack said quietly before he reached for his king and knocked it over, forfeiting the game to Luna. “I’d like a bit of time to think myself, if you don’t mind…” Luna nodded quietly and stood up, she began to walk away from the man and looked over her shoulder to see him packing up the board and tucking it under his arm. When he had that board in front of him he became an almost entirely different person, his rash abrasive tendencies seemed to disappear, replaced by a very quiet young man with seemingly a lot on his mind.

Rather than end her excursion there she decided to take a walk near the military base, the crowd at the gate of the refugee center had thinned out substantially by the time she reached it, there weren’t any tourists pestering the guards to get in either. The guards gave her their customary farewells, she returned them with a smile and a nod before setting her sights on the large military complex that had been steadily become more and more advanced. She skirted around the outskirts of the city, it gave her a far more beautiful view of the vast empty desert. Somewhere across that seemingly endless void of sand and sky was her sister, in an entirely different country.

Luna’s thoughts were shaken by the sudden sound of gunshots, she whipped her head around to find the source and realized just how long she had been walking. She was now walking past the base’s firing range, thankfully she hadn’t walked onto it. She could see thestrals, changelings, diamond dogs, griffons, and more than a few humans taking aim at targets. The Diamond dogs were armed with American made AK-47s, renamed as the ‘Standard Rifle-47, while the quadrupeds of the group had been given a modified version that afforded them maximum mobility and accuracy via a special harness.

It was a far cry from the swords and spears Luna had known as a child, and even the spellbows that had only been around for a year or so. She knew that they were preparing to make a variant of harness for aerial combat, meaning that even in the sky the menacing weapons would begin to dominate. Luna knew that it was inevitable, progress lead to change, but she couldn’t help but somewhat miss the days of her youth where she and her guards would train together. Back when her order of knights didn’t consist of a single human, and almost every stallion in the country attempted to be her suitor.

Luna sighed and shook her head, she had once again started thinking about the handsome young man beyond the portal, the one that made her heart throb even though she told herself it was wrong. She felt like she was in some sort of cheesy romance novel written by some lonely guy sitting in a cheap office chair. That was a ridiculous thought however, she stopped watching the soldiers and their guns and started walking back towards the capitol building. She momentarily paused to wonder if the latest security measures had been taken, the base and military factories had been made aware of possible espionage, but she knew very well how dedicated Chipped Blade was about military security. Luna decided to just make her way back to the office, cutting through a section of town with a lot of cafes.

Overhead the sound of droning engines let the people of the city know there was one more thing to protect them from an increasingly hostile northern neighbor. Luna had to admit the aircraft were rather sleek looking, and she was impressed to see how well they handled in simulated aerial combat. The pegasi of Equestria’s guard force were limited by their armor, weaponry, and physical endurance all at once, the airplane allowed the pilot to compartmentalize and prioritize things simpler without compromising safety. The princess was so lost in her thoughts she nearly stepped out onto the road, but she caught herself just in time to stop before an American military vehicle made its presence known. It turned out to be leading a small convoy.

Luna watched the vehicle carefully, unlike many Equestrian military vehicles, almost every American military vehicle was built to run on tracks. The reason was one of resources, metal was a lot easier to procure than rubber, especially in the American held territory. In the first vehicle she could see a couple diamond dogs armed with rifles, the second and third had very shocked humans in black uniforms looking around in awe. The final vehicle had a pair of humans in back, each standing on a mounted machine gun. Luna remembered the first day that EOL prisoners of war had come through the portal, there had nearly been a riot as human survivors tried to exact retribution. Little did the prisoners know the heavy guard was there for their own protection. Luna sighed and shook her head, with that she made her way back to her office.

Meanwhile the convoy continued its route through the city, passing by a couple more streets before turning on a road that would take them further out into the desert. The destination was around five miles outside of the city, a new complex with sprawling barbed wire fences and machine gun towers. The tracked vehicles kicked up dirt and dust as they made their way along, the prisoners got a good look at the sign that proclaimed their new home for the foreseeable future. It was officially known as POW Camp One, but the guards and commander had come up with a far more sinister and ironic name. Camp Four Chan, the literal bane of the EOL.

The convoy began to slow as it approached the gates, a mix of soldiers and individuals in suits stood there. The Camp’s guard force was supplemented by members of Johnny Gambino’s organization, which was becoming more like Pinkertons than an organized crime ring. Some of the prisoners gulped as they spotted the organized patrols and armed guards, overhead a couple griffons circled like birds of prey. Others weren’t so quick to be intimidated, even as the gates closed behind them. They had survived the battle with the American’s and their processing then been tossed through a portal, it served to boost their confidence.

“Prisoners! Dismount!” One of the diamond dogs ordered as the engines to the vehicles were cut, a couple prisoners began climbing down as a suit wearing earth pony approached with a clipboard. He waited until they had all lined up before he began the headcount, then a recount, before settling on the correct number. Fifteen had been captured, fifteen had gone through the portal, and fifteen had come to the camp. In front of the prisoners was a wooden building with a couple guards posted outside of it, the door was pushed open by a man in a suit and mirrored sunglasses. Johnny Gambino, the legendary mobster and entrepreneur, at least on this side of the portal.

“Oregano!” The man shouted as he walked towards the pony and adjusted his tie. “What’s the count?”

“All here, boss!” Oregano replied as he looked back at the prisoners, Johnny adjusted his sunglasses as he got closer before he himself walked up and down the ranks. A slight smirk played across his lips, he could understand why some cops really liked their jobs, as his position of power in the prison made him feel a tad more satisfied than what came from instilling fear into other criminal enterprises.

“Gentlemen, welcome to Camp Four Chan!” Johnny said cheerfully as he stood in front of the prisoners. “This little slice of desert paradise has been set aside just for you, courtesy of the New United States Government.” The man gestured to buildings of the prison, a couple prisoners could catch sight of some barracks located within the barbed wire, as well as what looked like a shower building, a mess hall, and various other buildings. “Let me reiterate. We are in a desert! You are surrounded by it, meaning any escape attempt would be fruitless because you’d either be eaten by wild animals, die of heatstroke, or be captured and brought back here! Or shot!”

“The war is over for you. Enjoy the time that you have left, it won’t be long until war crime tribunals are held!” Johnny pointed to the desert outside, then at the prisoners once again. “You will be assigned barracks according to rank and gender, your senior Prisoner of War officer is Commander Lynx, speak to her if you have any further questions, or if you want a nice view.”

“That’s sexist!” Shouted one of the more die hard believers among the prisoners, Johnny smiled and walked over to said prisoner.

“No, it’s my opinion.” He said simply. “That’s the beautiful thing about our country, we can say whatever the hell we want. I can call your Empress an overeating, over privileged land whale if I want, and no one can put me in prison.” The prisoner’s eyes went wide at the insult to the Empress, Johnny’s smirk only increasing. “Now… If there aren’t any more objections from the peanut gallery! Dismissed!”

Johnny pulled a cigar from his pocket and bit off the cap, then lifted it to his mouth and lit it while the guards escorted the POWs away. He puffed on it a couple times, chuckling as they got further and further away. Oregano walked up beside him and watched as well, a bit curious about what he was looking at.

“Oregano, can I confide something in you?” Johnny asked with a smirk, Oregano nodded loyally. “I love this job.”

“I like it too.” Oregano said.

“Should we get badges?” Johnny asked, he looked down at the stallion with a raised eyebrow. Oregano shrugged and the man took another puff on his cigar, the feeling of a badge did seem enticing to him, and he assumed to a number of his subordinates. It was a symbol of authority, and he knew that a symbol of authority was a hard thing to pass up. “I’ll take it up with the feds, if they say no I’ll make my own.” Oregano just nodded. “Come on, look busy, they’re paying us to guard these jokers not stand around.” Oregano nodded again and went off to find something to do, leaving Johnny to puff on his cigar. The more he saw the prisoners the more he felt an odd tingling in the back of his neck, as if by keeping them secure he was keeping Jen safe on the other side of the portal. With that motivation it would be difficult to stop him.

[♠]

Celestia quietly sat in her throne as the parade of petitioners came and went, some of them had legitimate worries. For instance her last petitioner had come to ask her for help in starting a new business, she had been happy to assist, as compared to her other petitioners they had been rather respectful. She missed them, as she was being forced to listen to another xenophobic jingoistic proclamation. Her guards had taken to stuffing their helmets with cotton balls whenever one of the petitioners would enter, she envied them greatly. Even the beautiful sunlight filtering through the stain glass windows couldn’t ease her nerves, it seemed that more and more of her subjects were hopping on a very dangerous bandwagon.

“We should not be standing for some small, unimportant, alien nation telling us what to do!” Shouted the petitioner as Celestia was forced to hear more and more of the annoying drek, he was a unicorn with a rather long mane. There had been a lot of them lately, it was their form of protesting the United States as the people there generally shaved their heads. “Princess, I demand that you do something to curtail this evil country with obvious aggressive expansionist policies! Furthermore-!”

“Enough!” Celestia finally shouted, so loud that the guards were actually able to hear her. The petitioner took a step back as the princess rose to her hooves. “For the past month I have heard nothing but ‘calls for action’ against a nation whose entire population equates to that of Manehattan!” The princess descended the steps towards the still nervous looking unicorn. “Every one of them has been filled with contradictions, racism, and outright falsehoods! Yours is no different!” The unicorn gulped as the princess stopped in front of him. “It seems that my subjects have forgotten what this forum is for. Peaceful cordial discussion of ideas and concerns.”

“I was-” The unicorn said in a small voice.

“Wasting my time!” Celestia cut him off, her nostrils flaring in annoyance. “I have had quite enough of these constant proclamations stealing away my court’s time. Get out of my sight!” The unicorn bolted out of the room as Celestia panted heavily, her guards staring at her with uncertainty. The Princess took numerous deep breaths, reigning in her anger and realizing that she had just blown up on one of her subjects. The mare shook her head at herself and looked over to her guards. “Guards-”

“Yes, Ma’am!” They all say quickly with a bit of nervousness, Celestia sighed.

“I apologize for my outburst…” She said, watching them somewhat relax. “Please… Inform any more petitioners we have that I will not be fielding any more petitions for action against the United States. Also, I’m taking a thirty minute recess.” The guards nodded, all four of them leaving the room while Celestia made her way back to her throne and sat down with a thoughtful expression. Her thoughts turned to what she was going to do about America once again, she had already made plans to construct a dozen aerial warships. Her plan to capture American weapons plans was set to go off in a week’s time, meanwhile construction of larger spellbow based weapons had commenced. The American tanks and planes were built from Equestrian native material, meaning they’d be vulnerable to magic.

“Si vis pacem, para bellum…” She said bitterly to herself, recalling the words her sister had told her all that time ago. Human words from one of Earth’s greatest fallen Empires, yet they still rang true with her. “I guess to combat a human I have to think like a human. I’d rather not have to though, perhaps if I could just… Talk with Dominic.” Celestia quietly hummed and looked towards one of the throne room’s stain glass windows, it had been installed to commemorate Luna and Celestia’s reunification. Guilt rose up in her chest, she and her sister had used to be so close, and he wasn’t about to let those years drift away.

Celestia made up her mind that she would go to New Liberty personally, even through the portal if necessary. She would see Dominic’s world, and while there, attempt to secure a peace between the two countries. She’d continue the effort to build a better military, just in case things continued to grow worse between them. With a minor bit of a plan she felt a lot better, and as the rest of her recess ticked by, she found herself relaxing back into her chair. She was actually looking forwards to the next petitioner.

[♠]

Maria quietly looked through a pair of binoculars from her prone position in the woods overlooking an unsuspecting twelve point buck. Beside her was Melissa, she was holding a captured EOL Remington hunting rifle and peering through the scope at the large elk. They had been laying prone for some time, Maria had taken the former EOL spy on as her protege and was currently teaching her the importance of patience. The woman briefly lowered her binoculars and looked over at Melissa, her breathing was slow and measured, her finger resting near, but not on, the trigger.

The woman briefly looked away from the scope to Maria, Maria gave a slow nod and Melissa took a deep breath before returning her aim to the buck. It was standing unsuspecting, leaning its head down to sip at a little stream that was swelled with the water of the spring thaw. Maria waited for the bang, her eyes watching Melissa’s finger as it twitched to and from the trigger. To her surprise Melissa’s finger left the trigger and the woman shook her head, she then proceeded to stand up. Maria’s eyes widened as the elk looked towards her protege, Melissa stared right back. After a couple seconds the elk turned and started trotting off into the woods, when it was gone Maria stood up. Melissa looked over at her apologetically.

“I’m sorry… I couldn’t…” She said quietly, looking at the ground with a bit of shame. Maria reached out and put her hand on Melissa’s shoulder.

“It’s okay…” She said as she looked around them, she let out a bit of a choked sigh. “I’ve gotten so used to looking down a scope I kinda forgot how pretty it is here.” She smiled faintly at Melissa before pulling the woman into an almost sisterly hug. “I know that when you really need to you’ll take the shot, this just wasn’t that day.” She broke off the hug and picked up her binoculars before adjusting the Mosin she had strapped across her back. “Let’s head back, they probably finished the attack by now.”

Melissa nodded and slipped her rifle over her shoulder, the two of them began walking through the woods towards where they had hidden their means of transportation. The pair was relatively silent, it was a comfortable one that didn’t feel out of place. The trees creaked in the wind, birds chirped in the distance, the whole world felt at peace. Maria hoped that there were places just like it on the other side of the portal, otherwise she’d have to get Dominic to open a portal just for her to come and visit, though she supposed Equestria would have plenty of its own pretty places.

Her mind drifted to Princess Luna, a slight pit forming in her stomach, she knew very much that the Princess still had feelings for Dominic. That was fine, Maria had accepted the possibility that a monogamous relationship was pretty much obsolete in the post infection world. She couldn’t help but admit she fantasized about the princess herself, in her very deep, private thoughts. Now it seemed that it was closer to becoming more of a reality than ever before.

Melissa was off in her own world, much like Maria, she was thinking of the things to come now that the portal had opened again. She too was fascinated by Princess Luna, she had tried to be like her for the past four years of her life. It was likely the Princess wouldn’t think so highly of her, she had after all been impersonating her for a while. She at least hoped Luna was as forgiving as she tried to be. Melissa and Maria continued walking, not really paying too much attention to their surroundings. If there were any infected around they’d be able to hear them before they saw them, Maria for a brief moment thought she caught a different sound on the wind. Hooves kicking up dirt, seconds later the two of them were surrounded by war cry’s.

“Shit!” Melissa said nervously as she started going for her rifle, Maria put a hand on her shoulder and stopped her, calmly scanning the trees as she spotted several figures mounted on horse back. After a couple seconds the shouting stopped and the horsemen approached, they wore rather tribal looking garb over their faded regular clothes. Bows and arrow quivers were set over their backs, and each of them had some form of fur garment on their head. Maria straightened up and put herself between the lead rider and Melissa.

Melissa was surprised when she heard Maria say something in a different language, it sounded very strange to her, but the man on horseback seemed to understand. He spoke in the same language to the others around them, the riders seemed to relax and become far less intimidating.

“I should have recognized you sooner, Mosin Maiden.” The man on the lead horse said, appraising both of them for a moment. “I was under the impression you hunted these woods alone, we had worried someone had encroached your territory.” Maria shook her head and gestured to Melissa, smiling faintly.

“No, Standing Bear. This is just my… Student.” Maria replied, the man raised an eyebrow before shrugging. “I appreciate you coming though, I’m glad to see the EOL hasn’t driven all of the Native Confederacy out of here.”

“After we’ve only just reclaimed our land? They would have to try harder than to send poorly trained thugs.” ‘Standing Bear’ announced proudly, he smiled and waved at Melissa before looking back at Maria. “From what the radio says, you fellows are making headway in the fight as well, though I’m not sure about the portals and the aliens…”

“It’s true.” Maria said simply, Standing Bear hummed again. “It’s very complicated to explain.”

“I suppose so.” The man nodded before whistling and gesturing to his colleagues, Melissa watched them begin to trot away. “Perhaps another time, when Denver is liberated? You can tell me then.” Maria nodded, then paused.

“It’s a deal, but I need your help.” She said, Standing Bear smiled and leaned forwards. “I need you to get in touch with the chiefs of the NC, we’ve been trying to the conventional way, but you know how stubborn they are.”

“Aye, don’t worry. I’ll be happy to contact them. Until we meet again, Mosin Maiden.” The man flicked the reigns on his horse and shouted before he rode it off to join his fellows. Maria sighed and rubbed the back of her neck, then looked over at Melissa who was very much on edge.

“With a reputation like me, I tend to get some perks from the NC.” Maria said quietly as she began walking again, acting as if nothing had just happened. “We’re technically in their territory, but I’ve killed so many EOL they gave me this little strip of land for myself.” Melissa just nodded, still stunned by what had just happened. “That being said, the NC isn’t very receptive of messages from the CNG if they don’t involve trade agreements. Ironically.” The two women continued their trek through the woods, Melissa found herself growing a bit more uneasy at the possibility that they could be being watched from a distance.

Eventually the two of them happened upon a familiar bit of trees beside a rather old road, there was a camouflage net covering something and hiding it from anyone that happened to pass by. Maria approached the net and pulled it back, revealing a rather old looking Ford pick up truck. It had been captured from the EOL, and Maria had borrowed it for the sake of the trip. Though now that the EOL was on the run she supposed she would need it to keep pace with them. She had a reputation to live up to, after all. Melissa walked around the side of the truck to the passenger door while Maria tossed the camouflage net into the bed of the truck.

After the net was secured Maria secured her rifle in the truck’s gun rack and climbed into the cab beside Melissa before she pulled the keys from her pocket, she slipped them into the ignition and turned them. The engine turned over and rumbled to life, the lights on the dashboard flashed for a couple seconds while the CD player turned on and picked up playing where it had left off earlier that day. Maria and Melissa had both agreed that Pink Floyd was awesome, and thankfully they’d been able to find a bootlegged CD with there best songs on it.

The soft sound of ‘Echoes’ played in the background as Maria pulled out onto the road, which had started to become overgrown from years of disuse, before she rolled down the windows for the coming ride. She smiled faintly and turned up the music while Melissa looked out her own window. They passed by a couple cars on the side of the road, the occasional rotting corpse, and numerous green trees. It was oddly serene, all things considered. Maria, out of habit, flicked the turn signal on as they came close to an intersection.

Maria made the turn down the road, quietly humming along to herself as they continued on in silence, Melissa’s thoughts began drifting once again to the portal that had been opened. She couldn’t get over just how many tanks and soldiers had come through it, and more importantly, she couldn’t comprehend how the EOL could hope to stand up against them. At the same time she sensed there was a reason so many of them had been ordered through, as well as numerous other ones that would come soon that went beyond simply destroying the EOL.

The woman looked over at Maria, the sniper’s own eyes seemed to show she was thinking deeply as well. Oddly enough it was about the same thing Melissa had in mind, though her thoughts were more informed. She’d taken the occasional peek at Dominic’s ‘War Plan Pink’, and she’d learned that by bringing the tanks and soldiers through the portal Dominic was protecting them against Equestrian Attack. A war with Equestria would be hard fought, they had a much larger army and budget, it would need to be waged sparingly. Meaning that the army would need to make a tactical withdrawal from New Liberty and regroup in Changeling territory before it could do anything.

The rest of the drive went on in a rather chilled out silence, both Maria and Melissa relaxing with their own turbulent thoughts for the future. For neither of them was it a new sensation, and neither of them had any illusions that it would be the last time. After nearly an hour of driving and silently listening to the music the gates to the New American base came into view. A tank was parked blocking the road, the crew of which was obviously changelings. Maria slowed down as she approached the tank, one of the changelings came forwards and examined her for a moment.

“Scorpio.” Maria said neutrally, it was a special code word that indicated to the guards who she was. The changeling nodded and turned to another changeling sitting in the tank’s driver seat with the hatch open. The two spoke a language that sounded very similar to japanese before the driver started up the engine and backed the tank out of the way. As the tank moved out of the way Maria could see the full scope of the new base, it had changed a lot in a short time. The parking lot had been emptied of its abandoned cars and replaced with a bit of a shanty town much like the one that resided on Pikes Peak.

Survivors and traders had started to set up shop, after being cleared by security personnel, and the building was becoming a bit of a hub for survivors in the area. The RV that had once roamed the wastes to sell food had parked in a corner of the parking lot that was particularly well guarded by sniper cover. Of course half of the lot had been allocated to American military vehicles, and there were plenty of them. Some were tanks and transports built on the other side of the portal, others were human vehicles that had been captured or donated and were gradually being painted olive drab.

What was more, it seemed that people had taken a new flag for their new bastion, it was rather complex looking from a distance, and bore more than three colors. Dominic hadn’t ordered it be taken down, though he did make sure that the stars and stripes flew higher than it. Maria knew he was looking for a way to increase the legitimacy of his government, and that would probably mean a new flag, though she suspected he still held a lot of love for the old one. The woman pulled the truck into the military section of the parking lot, parking on the very end before turning off the engine and stepping out. She grabbed her gear from within, Melissa did the same before she too got out and closed her door.

“I’m going to go and see Twilight Sparkle, I hear she’s going back through the portal today.” Melissa said as she started walking alongside Maria on their way to the front door of the base, Maria nodded quietly as she adjusted the rifle slung over her shoulder.

“Hopefully Dominic isn’t too tired out from the mission, I was hoping to get a little alone time with him myself.” Maria added, Melissa giggled faintly which caused Maria to look at her with an eyebrow. “What? I mean so we can just… You know, be together.”

“Sure you do.” Melissa said, still smirking like a cheshire cat. “I’m sure you’re ‘together’ all the time.” Maria gave her protege a smack on the shoulder and shook her head.

“Why is everyone so interested in our sex life? Did Jen put you up to this?” Maria asked with a bit of annoyance, Melissa shook her head. “Look, we just… Haven’t yet. Okay? Is that alright with you miss ‘Lunar sex goddess’?”

“Promise you’ll tell me when you do?” Melissa asked, Maria blushed furiously and shook her head in annoyance. The two of them were closer to the front door, passing by a couple vendors that attempted to sell them varying knick knacks in trade or in American gold coin that had become a new form of super currency. “Come on!”

“You realize I’ve killed over three hundred people with this rifle, Melissa. Right?” Maria simply said, Melissa instantly shut up afterwards. The guards standing in front of the building opened the door for the two familiar faces, they stepped into the large store complex and started to separate. “I’ll catch you later, ya nut.” Melissa just waved before she disappeared on her own path to meet up with the pony princess one last time.

Maria went her own way, walking past more than a few new recruits. She could tell because unlike her they were wearing olive drab uniforms similar to those of the thestrals, changelings, and now diamond dogs that were coming through the portal. They all gave her snappy salutes, obviously very jazzed to be a part of the ‘good guys’. She returned the salutes with a faint smile, it just went to show just how confident people were in Dominic. Maria eventually came upon the door that lead to their makeshift apartment, beyond which she could smell the faint scent of old paper and could hear the soft sound of music.

She pushed the door open, expecting to see the man still in his battle fatigues and pouring over the maps for ‘War Plan Pink’ as he usually was. To her surprise he was reclined on the couch, wearing a rather tight t-shirt and fatigue pants, as well as muddy combat boots. A pair of speakers had been set up on the table beside him, running off the base generator and playing the soft tones of what sounded like Vera Lynn’s ‘We’ll meet again’. The man turned and looked at her with a bit of surprise.

“Hey! Back already?” He asked as he stood up and smiled, Maria nodded as she entered and set her gear down. Dominic walked towards her as she finished putting down her gear, meeting her just as she turned to face him. “I’m glad you are… I was worried someone would come and grab me with another crisis before you got back.” Maria leaned up and kissed him on the cheek, both of them smiling faintly at one another.

“Well fret no more, I’m here, for the next ten minutes until you’re inevitably called away for some urgent meeting.” Maria replied, Dominic shook his head and frowned quietly at that remark. “I’m… Sorry. That came out wrong.”

“Don’t worry about it. You’re right, I get pulled away too much, and it’s not fair to you.” Dominic rubbed the back of his neck before he smiled at her. “That why I’m exercising a bit of my power that a rarely use, and I’m going to let other people take care of things unless it’s an absolute disaster.”

“Oh? What’s the occasion?” Maria asked with a bit of surprise as a smile crept up over her own lips, Dominic just shrugged.

“I can’t make big decisions if I’m overburdened, and considering I just secured a town today, I’d say I’ve earned a tiny bit of a break.” The man wandered over to the table and rolled up ‘War Plan Pink’. “Which means no worrying about sunny butt, no worrying about the EOL, and a wonderfully romantic dinner with my lovely femme fatale sniper girlfriend.” Maria watched him secure the map in a very safe spot under the bed before he walked back over to her. “That is, if she’ll have me?”

“You’re not as smooth as you think you are… You don’t need to sound all fancy.” Maria said with a faint smirk before she leaned in and kissed him on the cheek. “You just have to say ‘Hey, let’s go do something romantic later’ and I’ll probably say yes.”

“Hey, let’s go do something romantic later.” Dominic replied, Maria smiled even wider and kissed him full on the lips. The man put a hand behind her head, pulling her closer to him in the process before hesitantly breaking it off. “Is that a yes?”

“Let me double check.” Maria said quickly before kissing him again, this time Dominic began to chuckle.

“And you say I’m not smooth.” The two of them separated from one another, each staring into the others eyes for a couple seconds before Dominic nervously rubbed the back of his neck. “So what should we do? It’s still a little early in the day for us to go anywhere.” Maria shrugged and walked over to the couch, she then sat down and patted the place beside her with a warm smile.

“Why don’t we do nothing? Why don’t we just sit here together.” She suggested, Dominic smiled faintly and sat where she’d patted, putting an arm around her and pulling her a bit closer. She rested her head on his shoulder and sighed quietly, the combined warmth of their bodies gave them both a comfortable feeling as they sat in silence. The music had come to an end, and so the only noise was the normal hushed hustle and bustle of the military base around them. Dominic felt his eyes slowly getting heavier, and before he knew it he’d started quietly napping.

Maria looked at him with a smile, cuddling a bit closer into his chest and feeling the toned muscles that lay beneath the tight shirt he wore. She blushed faintly at how firm they felt, it was obvious he had been training for months to come through the portal, and his swordsmanship training had toned him in all the right ways. The woman watched his chest slowly move up and down for a few minutes, she enjoyed the feeling of his arm around her even if he was asleep. Her thoughts turned to what was to come later, there weren’t a lot of ‘Romantic’ places in the wastes. To her sitting on the couch with him, even if he was napping, was romantic enough.

Before she knew it her own eyes were starting to get heavy, the rhythmic rise and fall of Dominic’s was lulling her into a nap of her own. Maria faintly smiled and embraced the feeling of sleep, eventually letting her own eyes close. The room became silent as the two of them embraced on the couch, their heads eventually resting together. It was a peaceful slumber, a natural one spurred on by an overwhelming amount of comfort and a small amount of fatigue. The other times they had fallen asleep together it had been nice, but those had been out of necessity to rest for the coming trials of the next day.

The two of them curled up against one another, eventually ending up laying on the couch with Dominic behind Maria and his hands on her hips. Both of them smiled faintly, even as the base bustled around them. Thankfully it seemed that the normal problems had abated to grant Dominic and Maria a small respite. As hours went by Maria and Dominic continued laying there, snoozing peacefully until the sun began to set. It was at that point that Maria and Dominic awoke within a couple minutes of each other, a faint blush sudden spread across both their faces. Maria could feel something poking her, and it wasn’t Dominic’s sword.

“Is that…?” Maria asked softly, Dominic could only nod through his embarrassment.

“S-Sorry… It just… Happened.” He said quickly as he nervously started to get up, Maria was blushing furiously once again. Dominic got off the couch nervously and walked towards the table. “I’m really sorry… I didn’t realize…”

“It’s okay, Dominic…” Maria said as she sat up, still blushing like a tomato. “I mean, it was bound to happen, right?” Dominic slowly nodded and looked back at her, doing his best to not make it anymore awkward than it already was. “Come on, let’s move past it, alright?”

“Yeah…” The man nervously moved back to the couch and sat down. “I just had this whole romantic thing planned out and I worried I ruined it.” Maria shook her head and leaned over to kiss him on the cheek.

“Well I’m still here, obviously, so…” She said with a reassuring smile, Dominic seemed to lighten up after that. “What’s your plan?” The commander hummed for a moment before he leaned back against the couch.

“Well, I don’t know if you’re aware or not, but a couple of the boys set up an officer’s club in the store’s old main office.” Dominic said, he looked over at Maria with a bit of an odd expression. “I hear it’s pretty snappy, dress uniforms and everything.”

“You haven’t been there?” Maria asked with a bit of surprise, she hadn’t even known such a place existed, but she was even more surprised Dominic hadn’t gone.

“I’m not really an officer.” Dominic replied, Maria gave him a flat look. “Okay, so I am, but I never saw myself as one. However, I heard it’s pretty nice, and figured we’d make a date of it.” Maria shrugged and rubbed the back of her head, her short hair not even long enough to move through the gaps between her fingers.

“It sounds alright enough, but what would I wear? I don’t have anything fancy, just my fatigues.” Maria replied, Dominic hummed quietly. “Did you do something?”

“I may have traded a box of cigars for something else…” Dominic said with a small smile, Maria felt a bit of happiness well up inside her. “It’s over by the bed, under the pillows.” The woman quickly stood up and walked over to the bed, she pulled the pillows aside and gasped. She held up a rather simple looking gown, it was a sort of raspberry red and a faint floral pattern. “Not necessarily high fashion, but it’s the best I could do…”

“I don’t care about fashion, Dominic…” Maria said quietly as she took in the gift, she set it down and walked over to give him a tight hug. “No one’s given me a gift like this in years… Thank you.” Dominic returned the hug with a smile, he was glad to give someone he cared about a reason to smile. It helped put the thoughts of the gruesome battle earlier in the day to bed, leaving him feeling a bit more fulfilled. “I’m going to get ready, do you mind waiting outside?”

“Not at all…” The man finished the hug before he turned and started walking to the door. “I’m going to need the room next, I’ve gotta get in my dress uniform.” Maria just nodded and went back to the bed, Dominic opened the door and stepped outside. He leaned against the wall that had been set up for privacy sake and watched as soldiers and mechanics wandered to and fro in front of him. As he stood there alone he felt the thoughts of the day creeping back to him, the memory of the dead bodies was still fresh. He could faintly recall the smell of phosphorus burning and screams of agony as the minutes continued to tick by, spindly burning people with charred flesh staring right back at him.

Dominic shook his head rapidly before taking a couple deep breaths, the thoughts receded into obscurity once again. The man turned and looked at the door, wondering just how long he had zoned out and if Maria was close to finishing with her preparations. Soon enough the door opened, Dominic took that as his cue to step inside. To his stunned surprise Maria looked like she had had full access to makeup, though in actuality she had picked up a thing or two from a couple of the less reputable women in the camp. The dress complimented her quite nicely, it wasn’t an exact fit but it was pretty damn close.

“Holy shit…” Dominic said quietly, Maria just smirked and used her finger to lift his chin.

“My eyes are up here, Dominic.” She said simply, Dominic chuckled faintly.

“I know.” He said cheekily, Maria gave him a playful swat on the shoulder before she walked to the door.

“I’ll wait for you to get in your dress uniform. Don’t keep me waiting too long, I might end up going with one of those cute new recruits.” Maria said snarkily, Dominic just nodded before he watched her close the door behind her. The man walked over to a wooden trunk that was seated at the end of the bed, his footlocker. He flipped it open and reached inside to pull a very clean forest green uniform from within, it was still wrapped in the plastic protective wrapper. He’d never worn it before, in fact he was one of few to even be issued a dress uniform. They were going to be issued as soon as there was sufficient stockpile of regular uniforms.

Dominic removed the uniform from the wrapper and examined it closely, the buttons were silver and the color and trim were mocha brown. The man undid his boots and slipped out of his current pants before quickly pulling on the uniform pants, an indigo stripe ran down the pants leg. He buttoned it up and slipped into a pair of black jackboots that were shined properly, the man then put on his dress shirt, the same mocha color as the trim which he promptly tucked into his pants, and a black tie. Finally came the green jacket, it had a couple pins on the collar indicating his rank as well as two campaign pins over the left breast pocket.

The man ran a hand down to smooth out and wrinkles in his jacket before looking back to his footlocker, there was one more piece that he’d been somewhat neglecting. A peaked officer’s cap that was the same color as his uniform, unlike the one Discord had given him this one was an official American cap. Dominic reached down and picked it up before he dusted it off and set it on his head. He took a deep breath to build his confidence before walking to the door and stepping outside, Maria was still there waiting for him. She looked him up and down for a moment before smiling.

“You look good in that.” She said as she walked up and adjusted his tie. “Very official, like a big bear.” Dominic smirked quietly at the compliment before he looked towards the front of the Costco-turned-military complex. “Now, come on. I’m sure you’re not too happy to be wearing that. Let’s go.”

“Alright.” Dominic offered her his arm in a gentlemanly fashion, Maria accepted it with a smile and the two of them began walking towards the front of the store. Many of the soldiers they passed snapped to attention, whether they were in recruit uniform or not, they hadn’t ever seen their commander in chief wearing that uniform before, meaning it was probably an important occasion.

Dominic had to admit that made him feel good, but he knew to keep that feeling in check. The jackboots were a thestral tradition, Dominic found that they were very much like the Austro-Hungarians or Prussians in that regard. On more than one occasion they had tried to make the ‘goosestep’ the official march of the American military. Granted, Dominic knew it wasn’t the Nazis that invented it, but he still doubted it was a good idea.

Maria was happy to see the look of confidence on Dominic’s face, years ago she had been afraid of what the military would do to him when he joined, but seeing him now she had to admit she might have put her money on the wrong outcome. Of course, Dominic was in charge of an entire country rather than a normal foot soldier, she supposed some of what she was seeing was a front to increase morale. As the two of them continued walking she could hear Dominic humming a soft tune to himself, one she recognized and started to giggle at.

“Is that that Swedish song that had the weird animated girls dancing?” Maria asked with a bit of a surprised chuckle. Dominic looked at her with a raised eyebrow as he continued humming it. “Oh my god! It is! That’s that carmel song, right!?”

“I can neither confirm nor deny that.” Dominic said quietly as they got closer to the door to the officers club, atleast, if the sign on it was anything to go by. “Besides, I figure they probably won’t have any good music playing in there, may as well prepare myself with something stuck in my head.” Maria just shook her head quietly as Dominic paused in front of the door and opened it for Maria, she stepped inside and he followed after her. The two of them walked down a short hallway and then up a flight of steps where they found a thestral lieutenant standing in front of another door, he sudden snapped to full attention as he spotted the man approaching.

“C-C-Commander, sir!” He said nervously, Dominic gave a dismissive wave of his hand.

“As you were, soldier.” The commander ordered, the thestral nodded. “I take it this is the officer’s club, yes?” Once again the thestral nodded, nervously looking Dominic up and down before his eye’s shifted over to Maria. He, like many of his comrades, were fascinated by the human female form, and seeing a woman not wearing fatigues was a rarity. “Lieutenant.” The thestral took a bit too long to respond. “Lieutenant, are you eying up my girlfriend?!”

“Nein, herr commander!” The soldier snapped to attention once again, Dominic was giving him a rather scathing glare. Maria was honestly a tad flattered, it wasn’t often that a person of an entirely different species found her attractive enough to risk being caught staring in front of his highest commanding officer.

“Good. Please, open the door.” Dominic said as he felt a reassuring pat on his arm from Maria, the lieutenant rapidly reached open and opened the door as ordered. Dominic and Maria stepped in, leaving the stallion to worry that perhaps his time was just about up. He closed the door behind them, leaving Dominic and Maria to take in the officer’s club.

There was a billiards table in the center of the room, as well as a couple tables that had been set up along the sides. A two way mirror looked out over the internals of the base, and a bar had been set up out of the wood from numerous old pallets. Inside there were two thestrals, a diamond dog, three griffons, and two changelings, as well as a trio of humans sitting at one table by themselves. There were a couple seconds where no one noticed Dominic had entered, then a changeling turned their head and their eyes went wide. Before they could speak Dominic brought a finger to his lips, the changeling nodded and went back to his game of cards with his friend.

Dominic could make out the faint sound of upbeat music playing, his head turned to the bar where someone had set up a record player designed to look like an old radio. The man walked over to an open table with Maria and sat down, the room was dimly lit with strings of christmas lights while small tea candles were set up on the individual tables. Dominic removed his officer’s cap and set it down on the table, his hand running over his short mohawk. The lights reminded him of the bar where he had hidden for so long, it felt so long ago that he was scavenging the ruins of his hometown for food.

“This is nice…” Maria said quietly as she looked around, Dominic nodded and leaned back in his seat. As he did so the man behind the bar walked over, still not realizing that the president was sitting at the table, he pulled a pen and pad of paper from his pocket.

“Good evening, miss and…” The man began, nearly dropping his pen as he saw Dominic looking at him quietly. The barkeep wore mostly normal fatigues, though he wore a Hawaiian shirt rather than the olive drab blouse. “S-Sir. Wh-What can I get for you?”

“Could we get a look at some sort of menu? This is the first time I’ve been here.” Dominic said in a genuinely curious voice, the man nodded quickly before taking off to grab a couple menus. He returned quickly and set them down before wandering back to the bar to let them have some time to choose. “I’m surprised how well these menus look, they almost seem professional… Leather backing and everything.”

“I think they might’ve taken them from a local restaurant and just taped their stuff over the old stuff.” Maria replied as she skimmed through hers, there was actually quite a bit available, of course it was all paid for in trade of some kind. “Still, it’s a nice change of pace from the other restaurants out in the wastes. I think I’ll try the… Elk steak.”

“Sounds good, I’ll have that too…” Dominic replied as he set his menu down, Maria hummed a couple more seconds as she continued looking over the menu before she too set it down on top of Dominic’s. The barkeep came back over and quickly took their orders, once he had left the two of them remained comfortably quiet. That was, until Dominic sighed quietly. “I can’t stop thinking about the battle plans, this is supposed to be our night but those stupid plans just…”

“It’s alright, Dominic. I get it.” Maria replied with a faint smile, she reached over and gently squeezed his hand. “The fact that you put so much effort into making this a nice night isn’t lost on me.” Dominic nodded slowly, then looked off to the side. “Hey, I was thinking maybe you and I could talk a little more about what’s on the other side of the portal.”

“Sure, what do you want to know?” Dominic asked, his attention rapidly shifting back to Maria. The woman bit her lip for a moment, then hummed.

“Well, I’m curious about Luna. I know, that’s all I ask about, but I’m just curious about her.” Maria stated, Dominic paused in thought. Maria had certainly been interested in the Lunar Princess, and for reasons that Dominic was rather unsure of. The more she asked about Luna the more he thought that perhaps there was some underlying feeling or motive, not that he had a problem with that, whatever made them happy was alright with him.

“I’ve pretty much told you all I know about her myself, honestly.” Dominic admitted with sincerity, Maria seemed a bit surprised by that. The man nervously rubbed the back of his neck, unsure of what else he could say. “Perhaps you want to hear a bit more about New Liberty? It’s where we’re going to be living when all this is over.” Maria nodded. “Well, it’s got a beautiful view of the desert, I’ve made sure that view is preserved that’s how beautiful it is. You can just see for miles and miles, it’s peaceful…”

“I was never one for deserts myself.” Maria said quietly. “It’s easier to camouflage myself in a forest than it is in a desert.” She paused quietly as she thought more about what Dominic had said. “Then again, I probably won’t need to be hiding. The war will be over… I could maybe start a little garden.” Maria hummed softly, smiling even wider as she thought of a world where the war with the EOL had ended. “Do you think we could have a barbecue too?”

“We can have a whole damn restaurant if you want.” Dominic said, a smile crossing his face as well. “As for me, I think I’m gonna take up being a pilot… They won’t need me commanding tanks forever.” Maria giggled softly at the thought of Dominic in an airplane, she knew that that would be no easy feet, as he had a rather strong fear of falling. “Maybe I’ll start with motorcycles and work my way up the ladder of dangerous vehicles.”

“That’s a better idea, I could get one too.” Maria said, she and Dominic continued smiling as they looked at one another. A creeping thought entered Dominic’s mind, one that made his smile a little more forced than genuine. Equestria was becoming more and more of a threat, deep down he feared that a world without war would have to wait. Even with America’s great military technology, the numbers didn’t stack up. Equestria could fund a longer war, it could field a larger force, and even with the force multiplier of technology and training America would have to defeat a demigod on top of all the other forces.

Seeing the hope in Maria’s eyes gave him a reason to make sure that there was never a time where she, or any other American, would fear the northern nation. Whether by peace or strength, he would see to it the United States was safe, even if it meant laying down his own life. Before he could say anything more the barkeeper returned with two plates and set them down, revealing some very good looking venison steaks. The aroma of which made Maria’s mouth water, Dominic had to admit he was looking forward to something that wasn’t a spam ration.

“Say, how come you can serve this stuff to us, but not the other people?” Maria suddenly asked, the barkeeper paused for a moment before smiling.

“See, whatever people pay here goes towards trading for blankets and other basic survival supplies. It’s an idea that I’m happy to say I came up with.” The barkeeper replied, Dominic smirked quietly before picking up his fork and knife. “Of course, since you two are pretty well known, you don’t have to pay.”

“Nonsense.” Dominic said as he cut a bit of the steak off with his knife. “I’ve had so many people offer me free food I’m surprised my uniform hasn’t gotten tighter. I’m paying.” The barkeeper smiled faintly before nodding and excusing himself, Maria began to eat her own meal as well. She hummed happily at the taste, ever since the EOL had put an end to her breakfast outtings she had been dying for fresh food. “It’s good, ja?”

“Yeah.” Maria replied between bites of her food, the rest of their date went rather well, occasionally they’d comment on the decor of the room or other topics of interest. After an hour or so they stood up to leave, Dominic was sure to leave some gold coinage as payment, before he and Maria exited the club and began making their way home. Dominic was feeling pretty good about how things had went, especially if the way Maria was squeezing his hand was any indication. The skylights overhead indicated that the sun had set and night had descended across the land, there were far less people wandering about.

When they reached their apartment Dominic opened the door for Maria and stepped in behind her, the man tossed his officer’s cap onto the couch and began undoing his jacket’s buttons. Maria watched him for a couple seconds before she cleared her throat, the man paused and looked over at her. Before he knew it she had approached him and pulled him into a tight kiss, one that she wouldn’t relent in. To his surprise he felt her hand slip up his abdomen, it began undoing the rest of the buttons. Once they had been undone Dominic shed the jacket, once again he was surprised to feel her hands starting to untuck his shirt. Realization hit him like a ton of bricks and he put his hands on her waist, pulling her close against his body.

The kiss grew more passionate with each passing second, the two of them slowly making their way to the bed, all the while bits of clothing were being tossed aside. Maria felt Dominic’s grip shift as the two of them laid down on the bed, still kissing as their bodies grew warmer and more excited.

Author's Notes:

Here it is! Another one! And a long one at that! If you're wondering why it got cut short before any of the really juicy stuff, it's because some people aren't in it for the smut*. At least, I assume so. If you're just in it for the clop then I admire your patience, you've been waiting a while. Anyway, never fear, I'll be posting the continuation as the next chapter.

And here's the clip of the day, or week, or whatever length of time it's been since the last one...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xnoFpdnQSo

*Apparently humanXhuman isn't clop. Something I was unaware of. Oh well. Personally I prefer the word smut.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crf7l5Ebeak